Sergio Aguero picks out Phil Foden as Man City’s most complete player | OneFootball

Former Manchester City striker has dubbed Phil Foden as the most-complete player the club currently has.

Aguero has always been quick to praise Foden, particularly when the two played together. The Argentinian’s favourite phrase to describe Foden was ‘different gravy’, fully embracing his adoptive homeland.

In total, Aguero and Foden shared the pitch 37 times for Man City across all competitions, and they directly combined for five goals. The first came in a 5-1 win over Leicester, with Foden setting up Ageuro’s fourth.

They then combined in the 2018 Community Shield, a 1-0 win over Tottenham in April 2019, a 4-1 FA Cup win over Port Vale in 2020 and a 2-1 victory against Aston Villa in the 2020 EFL Cup final.

The first time they shared a pitch was in Foden’s Man City debut, as he came off the bench to replace Yaya Toure in Man City’s 1-0 win over Feyenoord in the 2017/18 Champions League group stage. Since then, Foden has gone on to play 270 times for Man City across all competitions, scoring 87 goals and providing 52 assists.

He’s picked up 17 team trophies and six individual accolades. He’s been named PFA Young Player of the Year twice and Premier League Young Player of the Season twice — both for 2020/21 and 2021/22. And, of course, in 2023/24 he was named FWA Footballer of the Year and Premier League Player of the Season.

Foden played 35 times for Man City in the 2023/24 Premier League as they scooped an unprecedented fourth top-flight men’s English title. Only Rodri played more minutes for Pep Guardiola’s side than Foden’s 2,865 in the Premier League.

The English was directly involved in 27 goals in total in the Premier League, scoring 19 and providing a further eight assists. He ranked eighth in the Premier League for shots (105), third for shots on target (three) and seventh for chances created (73). Among Man City players, only Erling Haaland had more shots and shots on target, while Foden led for chances created.

He completed the most through balls at Man City and the third-most final third passes, while ranking second for Expected Goals on Target (16.17) and second for open-play Expected Assists (6.29).

Foden was also key to Guardiola’s pressing game, winning possession 35 times in the attacking third, which was the fourth-highest in the league and more than any other Man City player.

And Aguero believes Foden is second to none among Man City players right now.

“Without a doubt Phil Foden is my favourite player,” Aguero told Man City’s official website.

“He is the player who, when I saw him come to the first team for the first time, I saw his quality, his talent and his liveliness at such a young age.

“I think that at 16 he has improved a little with the team and he did things as a kid that made it clear that in the Premier League he could do very well.

“One time Pep Guardiola asked me who was the player [in the Academy] at City that I believed in.

“I would like to meet him again and play because I think he has a huge future at City and I believe that today he is the most complete player that City has.”